The train was never meant to stop.
Or at least, that's what Jeon Raon thought before the world outside his window began to break apart — not explode, not burn — but collapse, as if reality itself had grown tired of existing.
The passengers didn't scream at first. They just watched. The horizon bent like a reflection on disturbed water, swallowing cities, lights, even stars. In that silence, Raon understood one thing: this wasn't an accident.
It was a scenario.
> [You have entered the First Scenario.]
Objective: Survive until the timer ends.
Time Remaining: 1 hour.
He didn't remember buying a ticket for this.
He didn't remember wanting to live, either.
The others panicked — banging on doors, shouting names that the system would never answer. The train's cabin lights flickered, revealing their faces like a slideshow of fear. Someone prayed. Someone laughed. And Raon… just watched.
Because this wasn't the first time he'd read something like this.
> "A survival scenario, huh…"
He whispered, almost amused. "Just like in those stories."
The laughter died when the first sound came.
A wet, dragging scrape on the roof.
Then another. Then a dozen.
The old man sitting by the window pressed his face to the glass — and saw something that made his sanity crack like cheap porcelain. A claw, large enough to crush steel, pressed against the window. Then an eye.
It was red — no, it was deeper than red. A color that didn't belong in this world.
> [Outer Entity Detected.]
Do not attempt to identify it.
The announcement came too late. The roof tore open like paper, and the first cabin vanished in a mouth that didn't have a shape, only hunger.
Screams filled the train.
Raon moved. Not to save anyone — just to survive. His mind, disturbingly calm, processed the chaos like a reader following a familiar plotline.
He jumped from seat to seat, ignoring the cries, until he reached the back cabin — the last one still intact. The metal trembled beneath his feet. The monster was devouring the train from the front.
He could see the timer floating above his vision.
> [00:03:27]
Three minutes left.
Three minutes until the end of the first chapter.
The survivors — four of them now — clung to whatever hope was left. The boy with the trembling knife. The woman clutching a child. The man praying to a god that no longer existed. And Raon, standing apart from them, watching.
> "It's almost over," he said.
The woman turned, eyes wide. "W-what?"
> "The scenario. The timer ends soon. We just have to—"
The roof above them cracked. A single drop of darkness fell through — not water, but something thicker. It sizzled when it hit the floor.
Then the monster's shadow loomed.
The last cabin shuddered as it was lifted from the tracks. Metal screamed. Gravity lost meaning.
Raon looked at the woman once more. "Hold on to that child," he said.
Then he ran — straight toward the window.
The others shouted his name, but he didn't hear. He leapt, breaking through the glass just as the timer reached zero.
> [00:00:00]
[Scenario Complete.]
Behind him, the monster's full form erupted from beneath the earth — an impossible silhouette of mouths and eyes, devouring the entire train in one bite before sinking back into the void it came from.
The explosion of air sent Raon tumbling across the ruined ground. When he finally stopped, his vision was filled with the flicker of the system window.
> [You have survived.]